I was going to write a blog about how with a combination of storms Ciara and Dennis and real life disruption I've managed my first trade run in 3 weeks today (hauling a terrifying 84Bn ISK in a single cargo!) and that I'm not expecting much from this month as result.
CCP has also announced massive (if possibly temporary) reductions in the amount of resources in asteroid fields and anomalies across the game, which will likely drive the price of everything up.
All of that is interesting, and there is a lot I could say about it, but when I logged on the EVE reddit I saw this bombshell:
https://www.eveonline.com/article/q67fqo/broker-relations
This is, with no exaggeration, the biggest changes to the market since I started playing in 2009.
The cliff notes:
- Introducing tick size - a limit on price precision when creating/updating an order. An order's price can only be specified with a maximum precision of 4 significant figures.
- In Upwell structures, the minimum broker fee that can be configured by the structure owner increases from 0% to 1%, adding an ISK sink to these market fees by paying half of this incoming fee to an NPC.
- Increase the ISK fees that are charged when modifying an order. The fee includes a new additional component, the Relist Charge. This is in addition to the regular Broker Charge that covers the increase between old and new order value.
- Change the benefits (and name) of the Margin Trading skill - it becomes the Advanced Broker Relations skill. This will now give a reduction in the Relist Charge. The skill's old ability to create a Want-To-Buy order with only partial ISK escrow is removed, so all WTB orders will require 100% escrow to be paid up front.
I'll take that one at a time.
Tick size
You will now not be able to adjust an order by 0.01ISK, but to 4 significant figures. This means that for Tritanium, you will still be able to adjust by 0.01, but for something costing 1 million you can adjust by a minimum of 1000.
Upwell minimum broker fee
At the moment, if you create your own trade citadel the minimum broker fee is 0%. Most high sec trade hubs are about 0.5%. All of this goes to the citadel owner. After this change the minimum will be 1%, with half of that going to the SSC - an NPC corp, essentially disappearing, providing another ISK sink to the game.
Increase the ISK fees that are charged when modifying an order
Currently, when you modify an order it costs a base of 100ISK, The actual number is so small that I don't know what it is. Someone has done some Maths on Reddit, and worked out that after the change it'll be int he region of 1% to modify an order. For razor thin margin items like PLEX this is massive. Game changing.
Advanced Broker Relations skill
Probably the most controversial change. Margin Trading is going away to be replaced by a skill that gives a reduction in the amount you pay when modifying an order. This just went from a skill you'd only buy if you were station trading to make your ISK go further to a skill you'll want at V on every character that interacts with the market. Looks like my traders aren't finished any more!
Predicted affects
It is extremely difficult to predict how the market will look after this. The aim is to make it difficult for bots to sit there, updating orders by 0.01 every 5 minutes ad infitum. I suspect this effect will be achieved, at least until bot behaviour becomes much more intelligent. Hopefully most will be lazy and their bots will update orders until they're bankrupt! High volume thin margin item flipping will likely look radically different. I suspect people will utilise more smaller orders, rather than placing single large stack orders in future to try and circumvent the relist charge.
For my type of trading, buying from Jita, shipping elsewhere, putting up sell orders and adjusting once or twice a week, things will likely not change much. I'll have to pay more in taxes - sure, but my behaviour won't change much. My station traders I'm less sure.
Overall I'm predicting larger spreads on most items, and probably slightly lower trade activity overall. Hopefully we'll see more ISK leaving the game too. Makes me richer compared to everyone else!
A very interesting time, I'm actually looking forward to this!
I thought you may be quite negative about this chnage, I am surprised that you are not. I dont do much market work now, I just make a set of T2 items and plonk them on market, I iwll need to be more savvy on the price I put them up for now.
ReplyDeleteI suppose there will be an opportunity for sellers to build relations with industrialist then they can buy straight from personal contracts, ignoring the buy orders altogether
Most people who will be negative about this are those who station trade by 0.01ISK'ing constantly without really thinking about price points. As with most changes those who are invested in the play style affected will be negative about changes that impact said play style.
ReplyDeleteThe way I trade, I buy from sell orders, then put up my own sell orders in other hubs and don't touch them for a week or so. This isn't going to change. When I do go through and update my orders I'll get charged more, but so will everyone else, so I'd call this a wash really. Might affect my profits a bit, might not.
My station trading, I tend to update my prices to the nearest 100,000 or million anyway, so again, doesn't really affect me. I'll have to be more careful about my price points - as will everyone else, but as I tend to make large undercuts to put people off undercutting me I may even benefit from this as people will be less inclined to 0.01ISK anyway.
You're right in that you (and everyone else) will have to be more careful about the price you put orders up for, but I suspect there will be a lot more of people thinking "he's undercut me, but he only has 3 in his stack, I'll just leave it and mine will sell after".
Absolutely, contracts are now very attractive for avoiding fees. There will definitely be some opportunities there.
I need to have a think about the margin trading removal, and how i extricate myself from that. I suspect there will be less liquidity on the buy side of the market as a whole from that.